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We have a lot of open space in the middle of this country. Could we not build a destination for the homeless where their needs are met in a manner more cost effective than what we do now? Let's see someone add up the true cost of homelessness: the emergency room visits, the police time, the cost of cleaning up where they have relieved themselves because no one would let them use a bathroom, the crimes they commit in the name of survival, the space they take up and the neighborhoods they blight.

And you don't think, that, with everything provided for, the number of homeless will suddenly skyrocket?

We have a lot of open space in the middle of this country. Could we not build a destination for the homeless where their needs are met in a manner more cost effective than what we do now? Let's see someone add up the true cost of homelessness: the emergency room visits, the police time, the cost of cleaning up where they have relieved themselves because no one would let them use a bathroom, the crimes they commit in the name of survival, the space they take up and the neighborhoods they blight.

Or, we could do it locally. We can provide facilities that will take in mentally ill homeless persons, medicate them and keep them in a structured environment in which they are no longer a threat to themselves or others. No, wait, we used to have those. They were called mental health facilities, and we stopped doing that because homeless advocates decided that they had a right to be on the streets.

Ultimately, we have to choose whether we see the homeless as persons who are unable to cope with the demands of living, or persons who choose not to. If it's a choice, then we owe them nothing but a strict interpretation of the vagrancy laws, but if it's an inability to function, then we need to treat them, but that means recognizing that they are not competent. What we cannot have is a system that presumes their incompetence when it comes to feeding, clothing and housing them, but presumes that they are competent when it comes to decisions about taking their medications, voting or assuming what we used to think of as adult responsibilities.

We have a lot of open space in the middle of this country. Could we not build a destination for the homeless where their needs are met in a manner more cost effective than what we do now? Let's see someone add up the true cost of homelessness: the emergency room visits, the police time, the cost of cleaning up where they have relieved themselves because no one would let them use a bathroom, the crimes they commit in the name of survival, the space they take up and the neighborhoods they blight.